Platform



Feb. 11, 1964 R. c. JOHNSON 3,120,825

PLATFORM Filed May 28, 1962 ZSheetS-Sheet 1 FIG 1 I E W [WWI INVEN RICHARD C. JOHN Sand- A TTORNEYS Feb. 11, 1964 R. c. JOHNSQN 3,120,825

' PLATFORM Filed May 28, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. RICHARD C. JOHNSON A TTORNEYS' United States Patent 3,129,325 PLATIFGRM Richard C. Johnson, Hubbard, Ghio, assignor, by mesne assignments, to Associated Box Corporation, a. corporation of Michigan Filed May 28, 1962, Ser. No. 198,002 7 Elaims. (Cl. 108-51) The present invention relates to improvements in material-supporting and protecting units or platforms such as skids, pallets and the like, which may be used for storing, handling and transporting material.

Platforms of the type of the present invention are shown for example in Patent No. 2,870,931, January 27, 1959. They are adapted to be used in the transportation of loads such as stacks of metal sheets to protect the sheets against damage during transit. They support the load above the floor and allow a fork truck to pick up the platform and its load. Platforms of this type are characterized by a plurality of coplanar elongated transversely spaced deck portions and depending upwardly open elongated channel portions interconnecting adjacent deck portions; and the fork of the truck may be inserted under the deck portions and between adjacent channel portions to permit the platform and its load to be lifted and transported by the truck.

Great difiiculty has been experienced, however, in making these platforms sufiiciently strong to withstand the heavy loads they carry and to avoid deformation while being lifted by a fork-lift truck. The platforms are customarily made from sheet metal; and the thickness of the sheet metal has heretofore had to be made so great, in order to avoid deformation, that the platforms are difhcult and expensive to fabricate.

Desirably, sheet metal platforms of this type should be readily nestable and should be adapted to be handled in quantity in the form of compact stacks. it would of course be possible to add reinforcing elements to the platforms to brace them against deformation under load, and a large number of platforms have in fact been provided with various reinforcements; but these platforms suffer from the disadvantage that they are no longer stackable in anything like the relatively small volume they would occupy without the reinforcement. Accordingly, this art has recently seen the advent of sheet metal platforms having integral ribs that serve as reinforcements against deformation, as in the above-identified patent. Such integral ribs are an enormous advance over what was known theretofore, and they lend a considerable measure of rigidity to what would otherwise be a rather flimsy structure. Nevertheless, there is room for improvement of the rigidity of platforms such as those in the above patent.

Although the above and many other efforts have been made to solve the problem of deformation in such platforms, none, as far as is known, has been entirely successful when practiced industrially on a commercial scale.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide platforms of the type described above, which have markedly improved resistance to deformation under load.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of such platforms that are readily nestable.

Finally, it is an object of the present invention to provide such platforms that will be relatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture, easy to handle, and rugged and durable in use.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a platform according to the present invention;

Patented Feb. ll, N364 ice FlGURE 2 is a perspective view of the platform of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragment of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragment of FlGURE 2;

FEGURE 5 is an edge view of the platform of FIG- URES 1-4;

FIGURE 6 is an edge View of a modified form of platform; and

FIGURE 7 is a view similar to FIGURE 4 but showing the modified form of FIGURE 6.

Broadly, the present invention comprises the discovery that a platform of sheet material having deck portions and channel portions as described above is rendered far more resistant to deformation if tie means are provided contiguous to the plane of the deck portions and extending between and interconnecting adjacent deck portions, those portions of the tie means between the deck portions being free from underlying portions of the channel portions. In its preferred embodiments, the tie means between the deck portions are disposed adjacent opposite ends of the channel portions and have a width lengthwise of the channel portions that is at least several times their thickness perpendicular to the plane of the deck portions, the tie means between the deck portions being disposed endwise beyond the channel portions, and the end edges of the channel portions diverging both from the plane of the deck portions and from planes passing through the tie means and perpendicular to the deck portions so that the ends of the channel portions are in effect cut off on the bias and are inclined downward and inward. In one embodiment, the tie means are integral and coplanar with the deck portions; while in another embodiment, the tie means are secured to the underside of the deck portions.

Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, and first to the embodiment of FIGURES 1-5 thereof, there is shown a platform according to the present invention comprising a plurality of elongated parallel coplanar deck portions 1 interconnected by a plurality of upwardly opening channel portions 3 integral along their longitudinal side edges with adjacent longitudinal side edges of an adjacent pair of deck portions 1. Each platform is stamped from a sheet of metal, preferably steel.

Eeach channel portion *3 comprises a leg or foot for the platform and includes two spaced-apart downwardly extending converinging sides 5 that are joined integrally at their lower edges by a base 7. The lower edge of each side 5 is rounded, and the upper edge of each side 5 is also rounded and provides a shoulder 9. Each shoulder 9 is integrally joined to a corresponding deck portion 1, and each channel portion 3 is thus integrally joined to the corresponding two adjacent spaced deck portions 1.

Along the length of each channel portion 3 is a plurality of transverse reinforcing ribs for strengthening the platform and particularly the legs thereof. To this end, there are provided a plurality of transverse, upwardly convex integral reinforcing ribs 11 that are formed so as to extend around the base 7 and part way up each side 5 of channel portions 3 with the ends of ribs 1]. terminating below deck portions 1. Ribs l3 are also provided, which are upwardly concave and which extend full width of deck portions 1 and part way down the sides 5 of channel portions 3. Thus, there may for example be a pair of ribs 11 one on either side of a rib 13, in order to impart to the platform the maximum resistance against deformation that is available by the use of such ribs. The ends of ribs 11 and 13 overlap each other lengthwise of sides 5.

The heart of the present invention resides in the provision of tie means, preferably disposed adjacent opposite ends of the channel portions, the tie means being contiguous to the plane of the deck portions and extending between and interconnecting adjacent deck portions,

with provision for noninterference between these tie means and the channel portions when the platforms are nested together in a stack. To this end, in the embod1- 'ment of FIGURES l5, deck portions 1 are provided with endwise outwardly extending projections 15 that are coplanar and integral with deck portions lbut that extend endwise of deck portions 1 a distance beyond the ends of channel portions 3. Projections 15 provide anchors for the tie means; and the tie means comprise a strap 17 in the form of a strip of metal, preferably steel, that is secured as by welding to the undersides of projections 15.

Strap 17 is straight and contiguous to the plane of deck portions 1. Strap 17 comprises intermediate portions 19 disposed between projections 15 endwise outwardly of the ends of channel portions 3, and underlying portions 21 which are secured flat against the underside of projections 15 as by welding.

Each channel portion 3 terminates endwise in an end edge 23 that does not extend endwise of channel portion 3 so far as to underlie strap 17. Indeed, channel portions 5 are discontinuous in planes which pass through intermediate portions 19 and which are perpendicular both to the plane of the deck portions and to the length of the deck portions. In other words, no portion of the platform underlies intermediate portions 19. Indeed, end edges 23 of the channel portions are cut off on the bias and diverge both from the plane of the deck portion and from the aforementioned planes that pass through the tie means. Preferably, the width of strap 17 lengthwise of the deck portions or channel portions is at least several times its thickness perpendicular to the plane of the deck portions.

It is also possible to position straps 17 intermediate the length of the deck and channel portions; but it is preferred that they are disposed at the edges of the platforms endwise beyond channel portions 3. When disposed intermediate the length of the deck and channel portions, however, straps corresponding to straps 17 should be short and preferably should each bridge only one channel portion and should be staggered and out of endwise alignment with each other as much as possible thereby to avoid setting up in the platform any line about which the platform can easily bend transverse to the length of the deck and channel portions.

There is thus provided a construction in which the tendency of the platform to deform by channel portions 3 openin out so that the platform in effect flattens out is counteracted by the provision of tie means interconnecting the deck portions and bridging across the channel portions, the tie means being so constructed and arranged, however, that they do not interfere with the nestability of the platforms. The tapering of end edge 23 so that it recedes from strap 17 as seen in plan in FIGURE 3 and the positioning of strap 17 contiguous to the plane of the deck portions, coupled with the fact that strap 17 is at least several times as wide as it is thick, all coact to produce a novel and patentable structure.

In FIGURES 6 and 7 is shown a variant form of the present invention, in which the tie means are provided not by a separate strap 17 welded to projections endwise outwardly beyond the channel portions, but rather in which the entire platform is stamped from a single piece of sheet metal. To this end, the structure of the platform proper is the same as in FIGURES 1-5, but the tie means are quite different. gral and coplanar with the opposite ends of deck por- Specifically, they are inte- 6 tions 1 and bridge across between those deck portions in the form of webs 25 cut out from the sheet metal in the course of a stamping operation or series of operations that form deck portions 1, channel portions 3', ribs 11' and 13, in addition to end edge 23. As in the case of the embodiment of FIGURES; 15, so also in the case of the embodiment of FIGURES 6 and 7, the Webs 25 may be staggered and disposed intermediate the lengths of the channel portions; but also as before, it is preferred that webs 2 5 be disposed adjacent the ends of the channel portions.

In view of the fore oing disclosure, it will be evident that all of the initially recited objects of the present invention have been achieved.

Although the present invention has been described and illustrated in connection with preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that modifications and variations may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention, as those skilled in this art Will readily understand. Such modifications and variations are considered to be within the purview and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A platform of sheet material comprising a plurality of coplanar elongated transversely spaced deck portions and depending upwardly open elongated channel portions interconnecting adjacent deck portions, and tie means contiguous to the plane of the deck portions and extending between and interconnecting adjacent deck pet tions, the channel portions being discontinuous in planes which pass through the portions of the tie means between the deck portions and which are perpendicular. both to the plane of the deck portions and to the length of the deck portions.

2. A platform as claimed in claim 1, the tie means between the deck portions having a width lengthwise of ube channel portions that is at least several times its thickness perpendicular to the plane of the deck portions.

3. A platform as claimed in claim 1, the tie means between the deck portions being disposed adjacent opposite ends of the channel portions.

4. A platform as claimed in claim 3, the tie means between the deck portions being disposed endwise beyond the channel portions.

5. A platform as claimed in claim 1, the channel pertions having end edges adjacent the tie means diverging both from the plane of the deck portions and from said planes passing through the tie means.

6. A platform as claimed in claim 1, the tie means being integral and coplanar with the deck portions.

7. A platform as claimed in claim 1, the tie means being secured to the underside of the deck portions.

References Qited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,256,750 Riemenschneider Sept. 23, 1941 2,447,542 Seward Aug. 24, 1948 2,463,214 Stoner Mar. 1, 1949 2,615,661 Cushman Oct. 28, 1952 2,870,981 Dellinger et al Ian. 27, 1959 2,928,638 Karker Mar. 15, 1960 OTHER REFERENCES Powell Press Steel Co., Oct. 1, 1955, Bulletin No. X 100, Hubbard, Ohio. 

1. A PLATFORM OF SHEET MATERIAL COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF COPLANAR ELONGATED TRANSVERSELY SPACED DECK PORTIONS AND DEPENDING UPWARDLY OPEN ELONGATED CHANNEL PORTIONS INTERCONNECTING ADJACENT DECK PORTIONS, AND TIE MEANS CONTIGUOUS TO THE PLANE OF THE DECK PORTIONS AND EXTENDING BETWEEN AND INTERCONNECTING ADJACENT DECK PORTIONS, THE CHANNEL PORTIONS BEING DISCONTINUOUS IN PLANES WHICH 